Page 68 of The Flirty Forward

Kelly squeezes my hand one more time and then grabs Lou’s hand. “Thank you,” he says sincerely before they walk away. I take a steadying breath, feeling oddly emotional. I’m still waiting when I see Tina and Andrew entering the waiting room. Sebastian’s sister sees me and beelines it towards me.

I brace myself. “Stephanie, I’m so glad you were with her. How is she?”

“Her eyes were open in the ambulance.” I tell her the same thing I told her parents. “Your parents were just here and went back.”

I get a notification that my Uber is here. “I’ve got to go; my ride is here.”

“Okay. Thank you so much,” Tina says, hugging me one more time.

“Thank you,” Andrew says, putting a hand on my shoulder. They both walk into the waiting room. I turn for a moment and watch as Sebastian’s parents walk over to them, and they all hug each other. A lump forms in my throat, and I turn away. I’m thankful Kayla’s family is all here and loves her. I walk outside and climb into the Uber. Before long, I’m back at school. The last period before lunch is just ending, so I head to the teacher’s lounge. I don’t bother grabbing my lunch because I’m not hungry. Besides, Sebastian has provided lunch every day this week. I have a feeling today will be no different. I’m just entering the room when my phone buzzes. I look down and am surprised to see Aiden’s name. I answer, wondering if he’s trying to get ahold of Brielle.

“Hey, Aiden.”

“Stephanie.” I freeze at the sound of Sebastian’s voice. “Aiden just told me what happened with Kayla. Are you all right?”

His words take me by surprise. The biggest one being, why is he asking about me and not Kayla? I wonder why he’s calling on Aiden’s phone, and I wonder why it’s taken an emergency for him to reach out. But I push that all away and focus on what’s important. “She was awake in the ambulance; that’s all I know right now.” I repeat the same thing I’ve told all his other concerned family members.

“That’s good, but I asked about you,” he responds.

“I’m fine,” I say without thinking.

I hear noise coming from his end, and he says something to somebody. Then it suddenly gets quiet. “You had to have been terrified,” he says quietly.

I blow out a breath. “Yeah, it was a little scary,” I admit.

“What actually happened? I just heard from Aiden that she passed out, and you found her.”

I walk out of the teacher’s room and find a quiet place in the hallway. “It was my fault. I sent her to the bathroom and then heard her monitor beeping. By the time I got it out and realized how low she was, she’d already passed out. She hit her head on the floor or the wall or something because she was bleeding pretty heavily; I know she’ll have to have stitches.”

He lets out a sound. “Man.”

“Yeah, but she’s okay. Her eyes were open in the ambulance.”

He mutters something that I can’t hear, and I can picture him running his hand through his hair. “I’m so glad you were with her,” he finally says.

I don’t deserve the gratitude. “Well, she wouldn’t have passed out in the first place if I’d been more aware.”

“Don’t do that to yourself, Steph,” he says quietly. “You didn’t do anything wrong; you couldn’t have known. You helped her when it really counted; remember that.”

His words make me feel emotional, and I don’t know how to handle it. “I need to go.”

“Okay, I’ll let you go.” His voice is gentle. “I’m sorry I haven’t called you. I left my phone at the first hotel. They have it, and they were supposed to mail it to my house. In the meantime, I don’t have a phone.” I can hear the frustration in his voice. Something eases in my chest; he didn’t ignore me.

“I’m sorry. Do you want me to try to get it from your house and send it to you somehow?”

“If I get a confirmation that it gets delivered, I might. I’ll let you know. Thank you, Stephanie.”

A warm feeling builds inside me. “You’re welcome, Sebastian.”

Chapter 26

Sebastian

I hang up the phone and resist the urge to hit something. “You good?” Aiden asks.

I blow out a breath. “Yeah.”

"Do you mind if I use your phone again to check in with my brother?” Aiden nods. I dial my brother’s number, the thing I probably should have done as soon as he texted about Kayla. But I felt the urge to make sure Stephanie was okay first. I know firsthand how scary something like this can be. Keith picks up after a few rings. “How is she?” I don’t waste any time asking.

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